Ursea was appointed on Friday after Vieira had overseen five successive defeats, eventually being relieved of his duties following the 3-2 UEFA Europa League defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday.

Ursea, who had been part of Vieira's backroom staff since returning to the club in November 2019, will now have just one training session with the squad ahead of Sunday's Ligue 1 Uber Eats trip to Reims, but he's confident he can meet the challenge head on.

"I put myself forward, I feel ready. I have always said that I am a servant of this club and ready to serve. I have been given a mission and I will do everything in order to complete it," Ursea explained. "Give the players confidence again. That's my priority! We are going through a difficult period, we will try to find something that will reassure us."

Ursea had previously been assistant coach during Lucien Favre's two-season tenure as boss on the Côte d'Azur between 2016 and 2018, and was the obvious choice for the club's hierarchy, despite his only previous experience as a head coach — with Swiss side Servette — ending in 2005.

"There's no point looking for other names. Adrian is the OGC Nice coach for this season, that's for sure" said Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivère. "We have known him for a couple of years. On a human level, it's remarkable. When he left for a season, he didn't really leave us. We spoke regularly on the phone with the idea one day of him coming back to us. He is a real footballing expert, someone who loves the game. That's obvious."

"When you have somebody already within the club whose ability you are certain of, his loyalty to the club, his perfect knowledge of this squad, the players and our league," added Director of Football Julien Fournier. "Yes, of course there is a bit of a risk because it's one of his first experiences as a head coach. But every decision is a risk, we are comfortable with it."

>> NEWS: Vieira sacked after Leverkusen loss

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